Get to Know Your New SAMRU President!
Newly elected Shifrah Gadamsetti shares what she plans on improving in the upcoming school year (hint: it involves wi-fi and saving some pennies on textbooks.)
Amy Tucker, Staff Writer
The Reflector: Tell me about you, What are your quirks?
Shifrah Gadamsetti: I like shoes, a lot. I have over 100 pairs. And [I like] home decor, and human anatomy.
TR: What do you like to do with your spare time? Any pets?
SG: I do not have pets, but I lust after them a lot. I spend a lot of time on Pinterest looking at pictures of cats. I really like reading, I really like coffee.
TR: What are you most excited about for the following school year?
SG: I’m excited to just jump in. I’ve had a huge interest in politics so getting to know that fear when it comes to post-secondary education can be a lot. A huge challenge, definitely, but I’m pretty excited about it. Learning how to negotiate with a lot of different people. I mean you work on a municipal level, federal level, and provincial level. So I feel like it’s a lot of responsibility to take on, but I’m really excited about it.
TR: What made you decide to run for student body president?
SG: I was on the board of governors for two years and I worked pretty closely to the executives. I was actually considering it last year but I wasn’t 100 per cent sure. Then this year I just decided. You know I looked back and was like if I didn’t take this opportunity would I regret it and I thought that I would.
TR: What do you see as the biggest issues the student body faces presently?
SG: Funding. Definitely funding on a lot of different levels. Our tuition has gone up quite a bit and it’s not just necessarily our instructional fees, we’re paying into a lot of different things. You know like services we’re given as students and we’re not seeing exactly where that money goes. And we’re having problems finding funding in the most problematic area like whether it comes to mental health, or it comes to accessibility, and things like that, I think across the board funding is a huge issue. Right now everyone plans to go back to school but going back to school is almost becoming unaffordable. So where can we help that?
TR: What are you three biggest projects or goals you’d like to achieve for SAMRU?
SG: I have a summer project that I’ve already started working on because one of the things I promised is better wi-fi, so I’m going to spend the summer working on that. Also working on the free textbooks initiative. Erik Queenan put a lot of work introducing it to the faculties and general faculties counsel. I want to push to educate a lot more profs, get a lot more people involved feeling more positive about it. Right now it’s only in two or three classes, I’d really like to see it across at least 10.
TR: Summarize the purpose of your presidency in one sentence?
SG: To just really try something new!
TR: What is one piece of advice for the incoming class?
SG: Really take time for yourself and your personal life.